Chapter 149: Poor Ellie

Chapter 149

Poor Ellie

Lana supported her husband, allowing him to lean on her shoulder. The middle-aged woman struggled a bit with the task because her husband’s frail body, weakened over time, made creaking sounds all the time, forcing her to be extra careful. Ellie watched the couple take good care of each other and felt that despite their misfortunes, they were fortunate to have such enviable love.

Few people were lucky enough to have a good life partner. Even in the modern world, with its many conveniences, many people didn’t know the meaning of contentment. In her time, infidelity was common, and finding a loyal partner was harder than finding a needle in a haystack. It was no wonder that when a good partner did come along, it became big news that made everyone envious.

As for Ellie herself, after dedicating her efforts to her career for advancement, her only boyfriend in her entire life ended up secretly finding someone better.

Yes...up until now, Ellie could frankly admit that the woman her ex-boyfriend chose was far superior to herself. Earlier, Ellie had looked down on the other woman, wondering why he would choose someone without a job, not fearing she might take advantage of him. But now, after dying from overworking, she realized that the real fool was herself.

If you don’t seek happiness while you’re still breathing and only work hard for a better future, you might end up like her, never taking the time to enjoy your own happiness.

Because of this...this mindset became the foundation of her current life. Ellie decided not to overwork but to progress steadily while finding time to do things that made her happy. She would play, do what she wanted, eat what she craved, and watch her own growth without being someone else’s helper anymore...

“You...How are you feeling?” Lana observed her husband after he drank the first cup of potion. This wasn’t a restorative potion, so the middle-aged man’s appearance remained the same. However, he felt a slight relief from the pain in his body and a sensation like tiny insects crawling in his stomach, making him feel itchy.

“How could the potion work so quickly? This isn’t a priest’s blessing,” the middle-aged man smiled upon seeing his wife’s worried face.

However, as he spoke to reassure his wife, he hadn’t noticed the change. Lana’s eyes widened, and she looked at Ellie as if witnessing a miracle.

Yes! Lana had never seen a healing potion that acted so quickly before. As her husband mentioned, no potion had properties as effective as the blessings of a priest that people often talked about! But..... wasn’t she witnessing a miraculous scene right now?

“E-Ellie dear...” Aunt Lana looked at Ellie with disbelief. She wanted to ask what kind of potion Ellie had made for her husband but stopped herself, knowing it would be too impolite.

After all, Ellie was a student at the top institute; her potions couldn’t be compared to those made by healers. However...the immediate healing properties seemed a bit too extraordinary.

Initially, her husband’s speech was strained and difficult, but after drinking the first cup, a wound healing potion, he could speak without hunching over and even laugh. He might have been in better condition than during the daytime when he was relatively well.

“Let him drink the next potions. The first was a wound healing potion; next is for internal injuries, and finally, a restorative potion.”

“I-I understand,” Aunt Lana no longer argued. Her face turned a rosy shade, clearly showing her happiness and excitement.

After letting her husband drink all 3 potions, and seeing that he had no adverse reactions, Ellie excused herself. As everyone knew, these were just high-quality low-level potions, meaning he still needed recovery time. Her husband lay down to rest as his wife requested, and Aunt Lana accompanied Ellie, needing to fetch her 3 children and bring them home.

“I don’t know how to thank you enough,” Aunt Lana said with a smile. Even though her husband still needed time to rest, his condition had significantly improved. He, who didn’t realize it at first, felt that all his accumulated fatigue had vanished after drinking the restorative potion. It was as if his body had ascended to heaven.

For someone drinking a restorative potion for the first time in their life after enduring hardships for so long, it wasn’t surprising they felt this way. Even if it wasn’t her husband but Aunt Lana herself, who hadn’t suffered injuries before, she would have said the same. It was a refreshing comfort that ordinary people rarely experienced.

“You can thank me after Uncle has fully recovered.”

“Hmm, how can you say that? Even if he doesn’t fully recover, I still feel grateful to you.” Ellie didn’t say anything more, and the two quickly reached the village square.

When everyone saw Lana with Ellie, they were slightly surprised, not remembering when the two had separated. Now they realized how much they had neglected Ellie.

“Ellie dear, have you had enough meat? How about trying some of our village’s famous homemade wine? Even Nara said it’s delicious,” the village chief, Nara’s father, asked, trying to ease any awkwardness in the atmosphere.

“No, thank you, sir. I’m already full,” Ellie replied briefly, smiling to reassure them.

“Ellie, don’t be shy. Come on, have a drink with us. Aunt Lana, you should join us too. The children were asking for you earlier. I didn’t think you’d sneak off to chat with Ellie alone. Nara is going to be upset now.” A small girl stood up with 2 cups of the village’s homemade wine.

Nara spoke as if she were genuinely upset with Aunt Lana for not paying attention to her and for sneaking off to talk to Ellie one-on-one. If it had been someone else, they might have been shocked and quickly explained themselves, making Ellie feel left out. Nara wanted Ellie to feel this way because...Ellie had always been treated like this.

Even her own parents left her behind to fend for herself while they died untimely, didn’t they? Someone like Ellie didn’t deserve anyone’s attention.

Despite these cruel thoughts, Nara’s face remained sweet and endearing. Her expression could make Aunt Lana feel guilty. It was a pity that Lana didn’t sneak off to chat with Ellie; instead, Ellie had spent her leisure time helping Lana’s family. So, rather than feeling sorry for Nara, Lana felt sorry for Ellie.

“I’m sorry for taking up Ellie’s time. Go ahead and drink with the others. I need to put the 3 kids to bed; they’re still very young and will start crying soon.”

Lana gently pushed Ellie towards the others, ignoring Nara, who had come over herself. Seeing this...Nara reluctantly pulled back one cup of wine she had brought, pretending it was for herself and not meant for Lana. She then offered the other cup to Ellie with a friendly gesture.

“Yes, let Aunt Lana go rest. Let’s go join everyone else for a drink,” Nara said, raising her cup to Ellie. Ellie raised her eyebrows slightly and looked at the wine in Nara’s hand, letting out a small laugh.

Nara acted as if she were the owner of the wine brought for the party, or perhaps she wanted Ellie to feel that without her, no one would pay attention to Ellie. Even this wine...it had to be Nara who poured it to her.

Ellie glanced around briefly before giving everyone a faint smile. Right now, everyone’s eyes were on her indifferently. They were just waiting for Nara to return to the circle and share more exciting stories from the institute. Ellie didn’t want to interrupt their conversation.

“Nara, you go ahead and drink. I’m tired from the journey and need to get back to the house before any animals cause trouble after I’ve just cleaned it.”

Hearing this, Nara laughed brightly. Everyone had been saying that Ellie’s house looked abandoned, with no one to take care of it. They thought she might have to stay with Nara’s family this time. Of course, Nara couldn’t deny the villagers’ words, even if she didn’t want Ellie to have a comfortable place to rest.

However, seeing that Ellie didn’t want to stay at her house and mentioned her own rundown house, Nara seized the opportunity to subtly urge Ellie to leave before everyone else noticed.

In the past, Nara might have been kind-hearted enough to offer her friend a place to stay when she had nowhere to go. But Ellie had been unkind to her first, never inviting her to share expensive meals. After all these times...Nara had to eat food that felt like garbage while Ellie enjoyed meals worth several gold coins. So...while they were in the village, perhaps Ellie needed to be reminded of her true status. In the end, the Setter family was just an unattainable dream.

If the Setter family truly wanted Ellie, why didn’t they invite her to stay in Set City during this time? How could they let her return to her rundown house? It was clear that Ellie was close to being abandoned. Perhaps it wasn’t just Ellie...even the Second Young Lord Aman, who wasn’t the future head of the family, might also be in the same situation!

“That’s right. You must be really tired. Go rest well, and we’ll talk more tomorrow,” Nara said kindly, letting Ellie leave amidst everyone’s gaze.

Once Ellie left, the villagers began talking about the girl immediately.

“It’s strange. Why does Nara seem so energetic while Ellie says she’s tired from traveling?”

“Yes, Nara, do you know what’s going on with Ellie?” The villagers looked at each other, not knowing what it took to make the trip, but the comparison between Nara and Ellie highlighted the difference.

While one remained bright and lively, the other claimed she was too exhausted to enjoy the meat and wine. In their village, enjoying meat and wine was a rare luxury. Unless someone was genuinely occupied or physically unwell, no one would decline such an event.

Look at Lana; she even brought her young children to this event because it wasn’t held often, and it was a rare chance to eat meat. That’s why Ellie excusing herself to rest seemed so unusual.

Nara sighed softly when she heard the question. She hesitated as if she didn’t want to talk, but in the end, the villagers urged her to speak about it, which was precisely what she had intended from the start.

“Sigh. Honestly, this isn’t something we should discuss, but since everyone wants to know, I’ll tell you.” Nara sat back in her place. The villagers gathered around, eager to hear what she had to say next.

“The truth is...Ellie doesn’t have very strong powers. She has botanic powers, which aren’t very useful except for growing vegetables. This makes her physically weak, so it’s not surprising she gets tired from just traveling like this.”

“But please don’t mention this in front of Ellie. Nara is afraid she’ll feel bad about her powers. In fact, Ellie has done well to come this far. As I mentioned before, the users of botanic power aren’t very accepted at the institute. It’s not surprising that there are only 2 users of botanic power at the institute. The first on is Ellie and the second person is Ellie’s professor.”

“After graduation, Ellie might try to stay at the institute with her professor, or she might return to the village to farm. She probably won’t be able to enter the Tower of Eternity to hunt beasts like Nara. But when that time comes, I hope everyone will welcome Ellie back. Even if she doesn’t achieve much, she’s still a part of our village.”

Nara finished speaking and downed both cups of wine in one go. Her clear eyes glistened with a hint of tears as if she was on the verge of crying over her friend’s unfortunate fate.

To the villagers, Ellie’s story now painted her as a girl needing protection and care. Initially excited about Ellie and Nara’s return, they lost interest in Ellie after hearing she couldn’t fulfill their hopes. More than half the villagers stopped paying attention to her, while the rest pitied the girl who had the chance to awaken her powers, only for them to be practically worthless.

“Sigh. Poor Ellie...”